UK's largest public rapid EV charging hub officially opens

The U.K.'s largest universal rapid charging hub for electric vehicles was officially inaugurated by BP Chargemaster and Milton Keynes Council, BP announced Tuesday.

BP Chargemaster is one of the U.K.'s leading providers of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and operates Polar, the largest electric vehicle charging network in the country, with more than 6,500 public charge points.

Milton Keynes is about 50 miles northwest of London, and the hub is located within a minute’s drive of the M1, just off junction 14 at Milton Keynes Coachway. The site is equipped with eight 50kW rapid chargers supporting all standards of EV rapid charging, according to the company's statement.

The site has already been used to charge more than 500 electric vehicles since it went live, it said.

According to the press release, Milton Keynes Council, with its contractors Ringway, designed and constructed the hub as part of its Go Ultra Low city program. Funding for the project came from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), as part of a £9 million investment package to support the growth of electric vehicles in Milton Keynes.

David Martell, chief executive of BP Chargemaster, said: "We are delighted to be operating what is now the U.K.’s largest universal rapid charging hub, providing a fantastic, convenient place to charge for drivers traveling within and around Milton Keynes.

"The eight U.K.-made Ultracharge rapid chargers join the 300 Fastcharge and 65 rapid chargers that we already operate in the area, which has established itself as a center of excellence for electric vehicle charging infrastructure."

According to BP, the number of EVs on the road is anticipated to increase rapidly in the coming decades. By 2040, BP estimates that there will be 12 million EVs on U.K. roads, up from around 135,000 in 2017.